San Quentin Trials

Early in his career, Mr. Carrow was counsel in two San Quentin Prison
related cases in which he represented San Quentin inmates charged with murder
and other crimes. The cases were tried virtually back to back and involved over
two years of actual trial time. The trials had a number of unique aspects.

The
first case involved the removal of Judge Harold Haley from his Marin County,
California courtroom and his subsequent alleged murder. Guns were brought into
the courtroom by Jonathan Jackson, who was thereafter joined by three San
Quentin inmates involved in a trial then in progress before Judge Haley.
Following the death of Judge Haley, Jonathan Jackson and two of the prison
inmates, charges were brought against Angela Davis and Ruchell
Magee. Mr. Magee, a San Quentin inmate, was accused of kidnapping and killing
Judge Haley. Prosecution of the charges against Mr. Magee, which were severed
from those against Angela Davis, resulted in what was then the most expensive
criminal trial in the history of California
and is the only criminal case, before or since, that was interrupted in the
course of trial by a California
appellate court. The California Supreme Court stopped the proceedings and
ordered the trial judge to allow Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General of the United States,
to join Mr. Carrow in presentation of Mr. Magee’s defense. Counsel previously
associated by Mr. Carrow had withdrawn mid-trial.(Magee v. Superior Court 8 Cal.3d
949.) Following an eight and one-half month trial, in one of the nation’s first
high security courtrooms, the jury was unable to reach agreement on the charges
against Mr. Magee. In addition to the matters referenced above, the case
involved other unique issues, including those discussed in Magee v. Superior Court 34
Cal.App.3d 201.

Labeled by the media as “The San Quentin Six case,” the second trial was of
approximately seventeen months duration and was, at the time, the longest
criminal trial in the history of the state. The case involved an alleged
attempted escape from San Quentin by George Jackson, brother of Jonathan, and
others. Jackson
was a revolutionary, author and prison leader. Jackson, three guards and two
other inmates died. Numerous prison uprisings, including Attica, followed the
death of Jackson.
The trial, also conducted in a high security courtroom, included a three month
jury selection process, which involved consideration of more than two-thousand
prospective jurors.

Mr. Carrow represented Luis Talamantez, a prison
leader and poet, accused of murder and other offenses arising out of the
incident. The jury found Mr. Talamantez not guilty on all charges.